@AndyShore I’m not going to lie to you. There was one main reason that I decided to check out Pharoahe Monch at Pitchfork on Sunday. I tend to have my best luck shooting hip hops acts. My photos of Lupe Fiasco from Mile High and Lollapalooza and Nas from Rothbury are some of my favorite shots to date. Not to mention the photo I have of Snoop Dogg smoking a blunt at 4:20 last summer at Rothbury. Knowing little else about Pharoahe Monch’s music besides the genre, I headed over to the pit after Blitzen Trapper. Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore I was excited to see Blitzen Trapper at Pitchfork from the moment I saw them on the line-up. In fact, it was because of Pitchfork that I even knew who Blitzen Trapper was. In my ongoing search for new music to listen to, I saw that Wild Mountain Nation had received raved reviews from the people at Pitchfork. I was immediately drawn to the indie rock with a country and folk twist. When Furr was released last year, I enjoyed that album even more. I made sure to get to Pitchfork nice and early on Sunday to see what this band could do live. Read the rest of this entry »

@andlaurasays I waited a long time for this. Too long, in fact. After my first Flaming Lips fiasco at Lollapalooza 2006 in which I spent the entire show frantically searching for a friend instead of actually watching the show, I was determined that this time around it was going to be different. This time I was hell bent on rocking out and maybe even getting on stage. If I could do it for Girl Talk, isn’t The Flaming Lips the next level up? A girl can only dream. The place was packed.

You can always feel the excitement in the air when the main headliner, the crème de la crème of the festival, is about to go on. There’s an exhausted restlessness brewing in the crowd. The feeling like, “Yeah, I want this to go out with a bang.” In this case, a bizarre interstellar psychedelic confetti, balloons, and dancing frogs kind of bang. Read the rest of this entry »

@andlaurasays Achingly beautiful and absolutely enchanting, Bowerbirds were like a ray of sunshine on a quite unnaturally cold and cloudy day at Pitchfork. I was instantly mesmerized.

Their sound, not unlike a certain Justin Vernon who I frequently rave about whenever I get the chance, is simple and pure indie folk. The blending of Moore’s acoustic guitar, Beth Tacular’s accordion, keys, and soft backing vocals, Brad Cook’s smooth upright bass, and Mark Paulson’s soft, yet powerful drumming and violin was magical and dream-like. Especially with the canopy of trees hovering over the audience’s head at the Balance Stage, the smallest of the three stages. Read the rest of this entry »

@andlaurasays Although I only witnessed the last twenty minutes of Fucked Up’s Saturday afternoon set, it was one of the most memorable moments of the festival. I am not going to pretend that I know more than what Wikipedia says about this band, so here’s a short description of what I saw.

Imagine the sweatiest, hairiest (with the exception of his head), angriest looking guy you’ve ever seen. He’s screaming into a microphone with a badass band backing him up. Now he’s put in front of a crowd of very sweaty hipsters pushing each other down like bowling pins. And his name is Pink Eyes.

Pink Eyes is sweating buckets. He’s spitting and swearing and diving into the audience headfirst. Someone throws him a baby doll. He holds it up for everyone to see and proceeds to tear apart the doll, limb by limb, as the people in the pit start throwing around bits of baby into the air. If that’s not hardcore as hell, I don’t know what is.

@ZackTeibloom Pink Eyes and Fucked Up were the Les Savy Fav of Pitchfork this year. A fat, bald hairy guy who’s penchance for being shirtless and wildly out of control overshadowed the music. I had the pleasure of watching the beginning of this Fucked Up set online. I turned it on as Pink Eyes ripped a beach ball apart with his mouth and wore it on his head like a hat.

He slowly took off his shirt (though I wouldn’t say it was seductive) as he told us we could now see that he was fat. Wasn’t much mystery there, bud. Much like Les Savy Fav, I’m not sure I’d ever listen to them, but I’m always down to watch them.

@andlaurasays Maybe it’s the horn section. Maybe it’s that Parisian sound that makes me want to be swept off to Europe. Maybe it’s Zach Condon’s boyish charm and good looks. Well, maybe it’s all three reasons and more, but I cannot get enough of Beirut.

This band is quite possibly the cutest I’ve ever seen. Not because their music is particularly cutesy or anything, but every man in that band (especially the drummer) had a smile that stretched ear to ear the entire time they were on stage. They loved it, playing for such a large audience and watching everyone get swept up in their music. They were adorable. Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore I had heard going into Pitchfork that the Black Lips were a crazy band that was a spectacle to be seen onstage. Their Wikipedia page says they are known for vomiting, urination, nudity, band members kissing, Power Wheels races onstage, fireworks, chickens and flaming guitars. Thus, I opted to shoot them over the National on Saturday night. The band took the stage more than 20 minutes late, and the photographers filed into the pit. Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore Festival Crashers crossed paths with the National a few times last summer. They played at Langerado, took the stage before R.E.M. and Modest Mouse at the United Center and played Lollapalooza. I don’t even remember if I saw them at Langerado, but was bored by their opening set at the UC and unimpressed by them while waiting to shoot NIN at Lolla. Usually a band that has horns and strings would be my thing, but something about the National never won me over. Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore My co-blogger for the weekend (that is if she decides to write any reviews), @andlaurasays, noted that Doom looked bored at Pitchfork during his performance. That is saying something, because the man performs behind a mask. Aside from the mask, I was mostly astonished at the rest of his costume. He was wearing a leafy camouflaged get up that made him look like Oscar the Grouch. For some odd reason, I don’t usually think Sesame Street when I’m seeing a hip hop show. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom After the great success that was yesterday (reviews to come shortly), it’s with great anticipation and a tad bit of sadness that I attack today’s lineup. I always get a little melancholy on the last day of a festival. The tiny voice in the back of your head saying, “Yep, tomorrow you’ll be at work.” No matter. Today’s going to be glorious.